This invention relates to a device and a method for treating the soil by aeration with waste storage. It finds application in the treatment of soils within the framework of their aeration or decompaction and more especially sports facilities or lawns.
In order to ensure good development of herbaceous plants on meadows or maintained lawns and, for example, on golf links, it is advisable to proceed regularly to aeration or decompaction of the soil. To this end, one uses vehicles that are generally towed and/or motorised with a great number of hollow needles, called hollow narrow spades. The hollow narrow spades are mobile and are alternately and regularly inserted in the soil, as the vehicle moves. A holding down clamp can be provided between the hollow narrow spades. The narrow spades can be inserted by an essentially vertical motion, generally caused by the transformation of a rotational movement into a translation movement. The narrow spades can also be inserted by simple rotation, on the soil, of a ballasted wheel carrying the said spades. In the latter case, the narrow spades are bent in relation to the diameter of the wheel in order to avoid a lever movement detrimental to the soil. Apart from soil treatment operations, these devices are generally raised to enable their displacement without the narrow spades contacting the soil. The hollow narrow spades enable to extract cores from the soil, cores consisting of earth and vegetables and corresponding roots. The core formed previously in a hollow narrow spade is ejected during the next core boring, whereas the said core falls onto the soil. The ejection area can be situated at the end opposite to the lower end that penetrates into the soil. However, most often, the ejection area is lateral and directed rearwards with respect to the forward direction of the device, whereas a lateral opening is provided along the narrow spade and the said narrow spade is oriented inside the device accordingly. In a second stage, these cores are collected and disposed of in order to clean the soil, whereby this disposal is particularly significant for golf links where the soil should not exhibit any obstacles or surface irregularities. Once such a device has passed, the soil therefore exhibits a multitude of core holes arranged regularly along the forward axis of the device. In order to xe2x80x98erasexe2x80x99 the core holes that are a source of embrittlement and irregularity, the treatment of the soil must be continued by spreading sand on the surface, whereas the said sand is then swept in order to fill in the holes.
This method exhibits however several shortcomings. As the treatment operations are mechanised, the vehicles used are relatively heavy and as they pass, the running gear may cause deformations of the soil and more particularly after core boring because of its embrittlement. These soil treatment techniques also call for several passes, a first for core boring, a second for collecting the cores and a third for spreading and brushing the sand in order to fill in the core holes. There follows a significant treatment duration during which the terrain cannot be used, not to mention the expensive cost of the treatment.
This invention enables to solve these problems thanks to a means of astonishing simplicity.
The invention therefore relates to a method for treating the soil by aeration, whereas the device may move in translation and be raised, whereby the device comprise a frame and tools mobile with respect to the said frame, whereas the tools are intended for sampling cores in the soil, whereas the cores are ejected from the tools in an ejection area and stored in the said device.
According to the invention, the device comprises a receiving member integral with the frame and arranged between the soil and the ejection area, comprising through openings for the tools, and exhibiting an upper face and a lower face, whereas the said receiving member contains a flexible carpet resting on the soil by at least a section part of its lower face, whereby the falling cores are stored on the upper face of the carpet.
In various embodiments of the invention, the following means can be used, individually or combined in all the technically possible possibilities, are implemented:
the receiving member is fixed on the holding down clamp;
the receiving member is a flexible carpet, whereas the said carpet rests on the soil by at least one part of its lower face;
the lower face of the carpet comprises elements protruding with respect to the general plane of the lower face, whereby the protruding elements, for example, spikes, chevrons or others, that may be connected, are intended for distributing the sand that might have been spread over the soil;
the lower face of the carpet comprises at least a series of protruding chevrons, whereas the series of chevrons is aligned along an axis parallel to the forward axis of the device and passing through the axis of the corresponding core boring tool;
the through opening for the tool comprises at least a chamfered edge and preferably the rear edge according to the forward direction of the device, which enables to do away with the passing of the sand that might have been spread over the soil, toward the upper surface of the said carpet;
the through opening for the tool comprises at least an elevated edge, which enables to do ay with the passing of the sand that might have been spread over the soil, toward the upper surface of the said carpet;
the receiving member is a rigid tray;
the rigid tray is hinged to the frame in order to tip the stored cores when the device is raised;
a deflecting member is fixed to the frame, the said member is placed at the back of the ejection area of the cores so that the ejected cores are brought back to the receiving member;
the receiving member comprises at least along both its free lateral edges, rims intended for holding the waste on the receiving member;
at least a section of the rims intended for holding the waste on the receiving member comprises notches, enabling more particularly in the case of a carpet, to fold or bend the said carpet;
the rim comprises an L-shaped band, whereas the side in contact with the carpet is substantially flat and the free side is corrugated.
In an embodiment, the receiving member, rigid tray or flexible carpet, is specific to the mobile tools. The layout of the through openings is then suited to the spacing of the tools or the working units. Receiving members corresponding to such or such type of tool should therefore be realised.
Besides, the receiving member is subject to soil friction and hence to wear; it may also be damaged because a tool has broken or deviates or because an obstacle has been encountered.
It is therefore necessary to have an important stock of receiving members, which increases the cost.
In an advantageous embodiment, the receiving member is modular, whereas its diverse constitutive modules are linked together by dismountable joints.
This embodiment may also exhibit the following characteristics, considered individually or in combination:
the receiving member is divided from front to back according to the forward direction of the device, into at least three sections, corresponding respectively to a front section, an intermediate section and a rear section. whereby the intermediate section corresponds to the area of the through openings for the tools, whereas the three sections are hinged together by dismountable joints;
the front section is fixed to a front roll;
the intermediate section is fixed to a holding down clamp;
the receiving member is a flexible carpet or a rigid tray;
at least one of the sections of the receiving member is a flexible carpet;
at least one of the sections of the receiving member is a rigid tray;
the lower face of the front section is substantially smooth;
the lower face of the intermediate section comprises bulges or spikes, for example of a height comprised between 2 and 10 mm, preferably in the order of 4 mm;
the lower face of the rear section comprises chevrons;
at least one section made of a flexible carpet is made of an elastomer material, in particular a reinforced material, advantageously a reinforced polyurethane material;
the receiving member is divided into at least two bands hinged together by at least one dismountable joint;
at least one section is divided into at least two bands hinged together by at least one dismountable joint;
the dismountable joint is flexible;
the dismountable joint consists of an elongated member linking rings staggered along the hinged edges of the sections and/or bands;
the hinged rod is a flexible cable.
The modularity of the device according to the invention may therefore be provided along two axes. A first modularity consists in dividing the receiving member transversally with respect to the forward direction of the device into several sections, for example three sections, hinged together. A second modularity consists in dividing the receiving member perpendicularly to the first modularity to form longitudinal bands hinged together and extending from front to back. Finally, these modularities may be combined, since one or several of the transversal sections forming the receiving member, can be divided into bands:
the device comprises a safety means preventing the tools from coming down when the carpet is folded under the tools; the carpet can be folded up for example due to the unloading of the stored cores thanks to the lifting of the tools, revere motion and subsequent tipping of the cores;
the safety means comprises an optical sensor and the carpet exhibits a contrast with respect to the soil, whereas the optical sensor is arranged to detected the presence of the carpet under the tools;
the carpet is coloured and the optical sensor exhibits a wavelength filter centred on the colour of the carpet;
the device comprises a first means enabling at least to unfold the carpet substantially flat on the soil; the first means is useful to spread or unfold the carpet after unloading the stored cores, which operation causes the carpet to fold up;
the first means comprises at least a cable linked to the end of a shaft integral with the frame of the device, whereas the said cable is also fixed toward the rear end of the carpet;
the cable can be lengthened or shortened by a control, whereas the said control can be mechanical, hydraulic, electrical;
the shaft is mobile in rotation around an interconnection point of the shaft on the said frame, whereby the said rotation is provided by a control, whereas the said control can be mechanical, hydraulic, electrical;
the cable is fixed and the shaft is mobile in rotation;
the cable can be elongated or shortened and the shaft is fixed;
the cable can be elongated or shortened and the shaft is mobile in rotation;
the shaft of the first means can be elongated or shortened;
the first means enables moreover to raise the carpet so that the latter does not rest on the soil any longer when the tools are raised and the soil treatment operations are finished; raising the carpet enables the device to move freely over roads or others without the carpet slipping on the soil;
the device comprises a means for unfolding and/or raising the carpet.
The invention also comprises a method for implementing a device for treating the soils by aeration, consisting in sampling cores in the soil using tools and in storing them in the device according to the previous characteristics and comprising a flexible carpet. The invention suggests to store the cores ejected from the tools and falling on the upper face of the flexible carpet and also to leave the carpet rest on the soil by at least one section of its lower face.
Soil can be sanded previously to core boring. The word xe2x80x98previouslyxe2x80x99 means that the sanding operation takes place from a previous pass of a vehicle or that the sanding takes place ahead of the core boring with the same vehicle that performs this core boring. Thus the soil treatment can be provided in two or in a single pass. In a preferred embodiment, sanding takes place previously to core boring.
According to an advantageous embodiment sweeping or brushing, both words being synonymous, takes place at the rear of the receiving member, for example using a brush located at the rear of the device.
Thanks to this invention, while enabling to store cores, the operator does not need to come back and collect the cores on the soil as it is the case in the conventional technique. The invention also enables to improve the efficiency of the soil treatment methods by modifying various steps of the method. Using a flexible carpet is particularly interesting since the carpet can follow the irregularities of the terrain and thus enables better distribution of the sand in the core holes in case when sanding takes place previously, i.e. before or ahead of the core boring. The flexibility of the carpet enables better distribution of the cores that are stored on the upper face of the carpet since the deformations of the carpet when it slips on the soil, prevent the accumulation of too significant limited batches. The flexibility of the carpet can be provided by various means: either the use of a flexible material in itself or, possibly in combination, by a particular arrangement of a rigid material and for example metal parts hinged together, metal lattice, metal coat of mail, . . . The coat of mail is contemplated since sand and/or other small-sized elements that would be passed over the upper face of the carpet may then pass over the soil again through the carpet.
Finally, the invention also relates to a method for treating the soils by aeration in which cores are sampled from the soil by a core boring device and stored in the said device and according to which soil sanding takes place previously to core boring.